Arts Books

Do you like calm and weird books? If you do then is the book for you. The story Giraffes Can't Dance is about a Giraffe who is very clumsy and can't dance and gets teased a lot by other animals. Then he figures out that there is something called a jungle dance that will happen in a couple of days and all the animals practice some in groups more then two like the baboons and some just two like the lions. So then he practices but it's no help. So then a wise cricket helps him practice. I won't tell you the hole story but I will give you some more details like the setting is the jungle and some of the characters are the Giraffe, the baboons, lions and more animals that you will love. I thought the authors message was that just because someone or something can't do some thing doesn't mean you shouldn't be their friend or bail on them. So if you want to see what happens by the book I am sure you will like it.

My children and I love this book, especially the rhymes and the exuberant, joyful illustrations by Guy Parker-Rees. Gerald is such a wonderful character. The book has already become a classic!

This is a great story about how it's okay for us to be individuals that dance to a different beat. The illustrations are wonderful. Bought the book for our 3-year old son but everyone in the family enjoys reading the story.

I love this book! My mentor read it to her 8th grade class before they went off to high school and i bought it as a parting gift for a friend of mine who just went to college. It has a wonderful message of "dancing to you own beat" or just being yourself, no matter what people think. Seeing that i just had my first child, i will definitely be buying him this book and i will read it to him, even if he is only 3 months old because i don't think anyone is too young to be taught that they deserve individuality.

This is one of the cutest stories I have come across and is not one I mind reading over and over again to my small children. The pictures are bright and interesting, the words just roll off the tongue, and the message is sweet. At first I was afraid it would be a little wordy since my kids are just one and two but they like it and it definitely keeps their interest. It is also the reason my kids have learned the name of jungle animals! They point out the giraffe, monkeys, elephants etc. when even Baby Einstein wasn't able to teach them that.

This book is freakin AWESOME. It answered ALL and then some of my queries. I didn't think graphology did all of this, but now I'm ALWAYS seeing it everywhere! As it says within the book, "You will never look at handwriting the same way again." It even inculdes a section on what drawings mean. FANTASTIC, UNBELIEVABLE come to mind. I believe it has a small section on PRINT, though I am unsure. I had this book, then lost it in a move....now I'm buying it back (and KEEPING it)! 2 thumbs, 9/10 (or 5/5) watev!

Clear, concise, interesting and very useful. I already have some knowledge of handwriting analysis and found it very easy to learn more.

...everything! "Handwriting Analysis: Putting it to work for you" is a well-organized guidebook into the fascinating world of graphology. As a practicing handwriting analyst, I have used this book as a reference many times - with particular attention to such detailed handwriting traits as a "felon's claw". Handwriting reveals many characteristics to the trained eye - this book will educate and amaze readers, especially when they put it into practice.

Carrying the knowledge that i got from this book is like carrying a swiss army knife with you everywhere you go. i looked back at cards and "good luck in college" signatures in my yearbook and found very interesting things, that i know are true since i knew the people. the handwritings really do match the personalities. i analyze every piece of handwriting i now see! my coworkers, ads on the train, my friends, doctors, etc. this book is my bible. it teaches you who is a liar, has weird sex prefence, whose psychotic, who is secretive, who's an extrovert, who's suicidal, who wants to be well known, who has poor self esteem, etc. !! GET THIS BOOK!!! includes tons of famous signature and writing samples inside

This book offers a quick look at how to analyze handwriting. The quizzes help to engage the reader in the analysis of the handwriting instead of using prose to simply explain the concepts. I found myself analyzing handwriting for fun within a few days.

I have found this book to be an effective approach for back and hip pain. I recommend and have gifted this book to several people. It does take doing the exercises. I had some hip pain that was bothersome for a couple of months and went away never to return after using Dr. Brownstein's approach.

My husband was experiencing crippling lower back pain, that was also running down his right thigh. We were wanting to avoid pain pills and another surgery. I bought this book based on the reviews, and he has been faithfully doing the back exercises at least every day. He found relief within a few days. It's worth a try if you are going through this kind of stuff. He had been through one back surgery that relieved his pain, but we misunderstood the need to do exercises initially. When the pain started coming again, in a different area, we thought he should try this first. I would highly recommend this book.

This book is excellent. Suffered for over 20 years with back pain, diagnosed with degenerative discs and multiple level herniations. Experienced many times the kind of intense pain that finds you on the floor. Tried physical therapy, chriopractors, acupuncture, pain management, anything to avoid surgery. But I was afraid that surgery was my only hope. Now since I've read this book I no longer worry about surgery. Because I'm pain free and can even do yoga - something I never thought possible.

As someone who has had back pain for many years, I learned alot of helpful techniques and strategies to ease the pain. I am now practicing many of ideas outlined in the book and am feeling somewhat better. Definitely worth reading for anyone with chronic back pain.

I purchaed this book for my elderly mother, a retired nurse, who had been to four back specialists and resorted to pain block injections for her spine, which looks like a twisted road in an X-ray. Nothing the doctors told her to do or take, including physical therapy, seemed to alleviate the pain. But when she started doing the exercises in this book, she was able to sleep and function 85% better than before. She does the excises in bed morning and evening. I would recommend it to anyone with back pain, regardless of their age.

My boyfriend's father convinced me that, as an art history major, I needed to read this book. I was a little hesitant, but after the first chapter I was completely hooked.

This was a truly powerful book. No matter that it is not a true biography, it was beautifully written and moving. I would recommend this to anyone with even a passing interest in art.

Amazing book and so very well written as all of Stone's other books are...I have always been mesmerised by Van Gogh's paintings, especially when I saw an exhibit of his in London.The colours were so wonderful that I just stood there infront of those pieces of art like a zombie ! I loved this book !

I loved this book. For someone like me, with just a passing knowledge of art and art history, it was pretty amazing to learn about Van Gogh's development as an artist and the Impressionist art movement. In addition, I think that its two major themes of expression and immortality are going to have a lasting effect on me.

By expression, I mean that Van Gogh put all his time and energy into expressing himself in a way that he felt was making the best use of his skills. For him, his calling was a new form of art, and he stuck with it despite receiving no recognition or profit for his work during his lifetime. By immortality, I mean that although Van Gogh was not successful in his lifetime, his work lives on and is hung in the most important museums in the world.

Highly recommended.

This is a beautiful novel about a beautiful human being. If you love Van Gogh's paintings (he is my personal favorite of all painters) then by all means, you need to read this wonderful book. In his prose, Stone is able to paint a vivid, vibrant, illuminating portrait of an amazing artist. I was truly blown away and completely consumed from the first chapter on. I actually read this fine story after visiting the Musee d'Orsay (Museum Orsay) in Paris and seeing first hand the magnificent works of this illustrious Impressionist. Of all the great many paintings presented at the Louvre and d'Orsay, it was the Van Gogh's that captivated me more than all the others (which is saying a lot, because the whole place is captivating!). I couldn't believe some of his self-portraits. What really fascinated me the most was the despondency in those steel blue eyes of his. This is what led me to read this story. I wanted to know where all that pain and suffering came from. Irving Stone answered all of my questions and then some. He is a brilliant and insightful writer and I will be looking forward to reading his novel "The Agony and the Ecstasy" which is based on the life of another favorite artist of mine - Michelangelo.

Anyone who is struggling to become an artist needs to read this! Talk about sacrifice and desire and heart and passion... this man Van Gogh was a true original. A man like no other before or since.

"...for by sadness the countenance of the heart is made better."

I can't recommend this one enough.

I should have read this biography sooner. I used to be in love with his paintings, and even fantasized that IF I were to travel back in time, I would've married him -- all this BEFORE I read this book. After I read it I found out that there was one such infatuated woman (Margot), and also a tragic unrequited love story that led him to religion and then to painting. Anyone who is creative will sympathize with the extent to which pain can be transformed into the strength to create. The creative path is not always materially rewarding, and even if it is all an artist has, it will continuously change others' lives. I absorbed every word of this book and was hooked until the very end. Poverty and disinterest is ephemeral... belief in oneself is revolutionary.

I have treashered my copy ever since I bought one on amazon 4 years ago.
but to let you know what the books like, the modles and the poses are ethereal and the simplisty of the composition seems to sugest a larger more metephorical meaning for each photogragh. I like to contmplat the poseble simbolism of each one. there is a sexuality to many of these pitures, but they are all as far from pornography as you can get. the modles mostly look serios. some of the compositions are oveasly poesed in intresting ways, but many appere casual and candid. they are all black and white .one or two have boys in them also.the reason these pictures are not phornagraphic is that each modles dignaty and identiy is striven to be expresed by Sturges. truly the finest example of what nude photagraphy can be.

Gerry Badger, in a listing of 250 key photographers, refers to Jock Sturges as the leading photographer of the "natural" nude (p. 170, Collecting Photography, Mitchell Beazley). This is fine, as far as it goes, but is too limited an introduction to Mr. Sturges's work. Mr. Sturges's photography is not limited to nudes. Neither can his subject matter be properly described as the nude or the natural nude. Rather, Mr. Sturges cares deeply about people. He is interested in people - in the whole of what a person is - and his work reflects this valuing. Simply turn to page 114 of the first Scalo book - the book I'm reviewing here - or page 31 or 87 or 126 - this is a wonderfully rich book - to find the definition of a great portrait.

I find that I can go back to Mr. Sturges's books again and again with pleasure and for profit. I look at people differently since meeting the books - with greater pleasure and discernment. Having Mr. Sturges's work in my home makes my house feel more like home. Enough said.

Mr. Sturges's monographs include Jock Sturges (Scalo), Jock Sturges: New Work 1996 - 2000 (Scalo), The Last Day of Summer (Aperture), Radiant Identities (Aperture), Notes (Aperture), and Evolution of Grace (Gakken). The Gakken book is printed too darkly (at least the copy I have is) but I'm grateful to the book, nevertheless, for the images it shares. Those wishing to catch a glimpse of Mr. Sturges's Irish work could look for an April 2001 copy of B&W: Black & White Magazine.

Many would say that art needs no message, that it is created simply to enjoy and not to inform. That may well be true most of the time but not for this body of work. We live in a world where, from the earliest age, we are told over and over and over again that we must always be afraid. You can't trust anyone or let down your guard for even a moment because if you do bad things will surly happen. Most of us wear cloths not just for modesty and for protection from the elements, we wear cloths for protection from each other.

By casting their fears aside the young people in this book prove their trust in Sturges. But even more remarkable then that, they prove their trust in us. The models in these photos have placed their trust in you and me and anyone else who might view or buy their images. They trust us to respect them as beautiful and natural and not regard them as lewd, indecent or obscene. Unfortunately not all of us pass the test. Some people believe that these images should be illegal. They consider them harmful for both the models and the viewers. I feel that that is more of a slap at the models and their parents then at Sturges.

I have only one small complaint and one question about this book. First the complaint. Why are images that have previously appeared in other books repeated here? Sturges is an incredibly prolific photographer creating more than a hundered stunning new images each year. There is more than enough material to publish twenty books without any repeats so why give us reruns?

Finally the question. Sturges has shot so many gorgious images of young boys and yet the best of these never appear in his books. In his published works we see a few boys with girls or their parents but seldom alone. A major theme of his work is simply missing. Why is that? Do publishers believe that girls are more marketable or less controversial than nude boys? If they were to publish a book called, "The Young Boys of Jock Sturges," what would the reaction be? I'd rather like to know.

I have the Sturges books and I really like the photography. The body tones and light are great.

You'll find some very good photography here, nothing pornographic and mostly well composed. Some of the pictures do seem to me to be oddly posed or taken at too great a distance but basically you've got a great book if you get it.

I had high hopes for Chris Jericho's debut biography A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex, and for the most part I enjoyed what I read. However, perhaps due to the extreme hype, comparing Jericho's debut book to Mick Foley's classic Have a Nice Day, or perhaps even due to my own personal expectations, I was let down just a little bit. My main gripe with the book is that Chris doesn't get as personal with the reader as one would have enjoyed. Mick really exposes himself and allows himself to be vulnerable, while Chris still seemed to be holding back, mainly in the personal life department.
Also, unlike Foley's book or even Shawn Michaels' book, A Lion's Tale seems to coast between feelings of "things are going ok" and "things are going really well" without hitting any sort of rock bottom that could possibly expose Chris to the reader and allowing us to see Chris Irvine and forget about Chris Jericho. HBK's book and Foley's books had extreme lows which made the highs that much better; something that Chris' first outting is seriously lacking.
All in all however, I do suggest that wrestling fans and Chris Jericho fans alike pick up the book, it's a promising first effort, but it's no "Have a Nice Day". A follow up on his WWF/E days should be mighty interesting though.

Sean

Chris Jericho's autobiography, A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex takes a look at the life and times of everyone's favorite Lionheart of the wrestling world. This is purposely written as a "part one" of sorts as A Lion's Tale only details Jericho's wrestling endeavors up until his then WWF debut in 1999. I fondly recall being a die-hard Jerichoholic from his late 90s WCW exploits, but I had barely a clue about his indy wrestling days, so the book was going to contain a lot of new information. I had no idea how interesting it was going to be reading about a lot of his fellow indy wrestlers I wasn't familiar with. It turned out be pretty interesting after all. Jericho spends a lot of time writing in-depth about training in the notorious Hart Family Dungeon in Canada and trying to get matches in California and Japan.

After finishing this book, Jericho did have one heck of an indy career. Reading about how he became a teeny-bop sensation in Mexico and how being a guest on Mexico's top late-night program led to a live call-in vote to determine his ring name was just a tiny sampling of his crazy days wrestling all over the world. Jericho also has many more peculiar tales of his days wrestling under circus tents in Germany, desperately seeking out a McDonalds while wrestling for WAR in Japan, and shooting rock star promos a decade behind the times for Smokey Mountain Wrestling while tagging with Lance Storm. Don't just skim over these parts, there is a lot of intriguing information to be discovered about Jericho and his days on the indy scene.

I was really anticipating him talking about his ECW and WCW tenure, and it delivered. He didn't spend too much time in ECW, just a few months and not even 30 matches before he was discovered and swept by WCW. His three year WCW run is by far the highlight of the book for me, most likely because it was what I was most familiar with and for his unique insight to what went on behind the scenes in WCW during the crazy nWo era. I was glued to the book to when Jericho detailed what he had to go through in order to get his storyline with Goldberg to go as far as it did, and still have no blowoff match to it all.

It is very refreshing to see this book bring up a couple topics in great detail that aren't in most other wrestler's books that are published under the WWE Books label like steroid use and wrestler salaries. It's just too bad the book only covers his Pre-WWF/WWE years, I guess that's what the sequel is for, but if you can get by the fact he doesn't talk about his WWE years (he does talk about the process that lead to his signing and debut as the book ends the moment he interrupts the Rock's promo on this 8/99 RAW debut), than by all means check this one out.
A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex

I usually read a wrestling book as a summer read and this year i read a Lion's Tail. A great book about a journey from the begining to what has become a possible hall of fame career. I highly recommend it.

This was a good book. It was pretty well written and the pace kept me turning the pages. Lots of fun stories about life on the road as a wrestler. I was glad to read about some of my favorite wrestlers from a new perspective. I have to admit that I am a total mark for Jericho. Good stories and a nice look at his journey to being a true superstar. I don't know if someone who didnt like wrestling already would enjoy it though. But I sure liked it.

I highly recommend this book! After eagerly awaiting it for a month I finally got it and read it in 3 days, it is funny, face-paced, witty and an easy read. You'll laugh out loud several times and almost pee yourself if you read this book. I highly recommend it to all the Jeriholics out there and even if your not, its still a great read. Buy it!

It is hard to describe how indispensable this book becomes once you own it. Extremely rich reference for all things mechanical. Not only tables, very interesting reading material too.
I've been reading it as a bedside book for a month, and the knowledge within seems endless.
I got the small print version, no complaints about that. Maybe in 20 years it will make a difference, though.
The only issue are units: some info in metric system, other imperial. But A++ still.

I have always needed one of these now I have one. I am so glad I really needed it.

The product was delivered as promised in new/as new condition. The book is very informational for machinists and engineers alike.

I AM A DESIGNER/ DRAFTER AND I HAVE TO SAY THAT THIS BOOK HAS ADVANCED MY KNOWLEDGE GREATLY IN MECHANICAL DESIGN.

I got the handbook because it was required for one of my classes, and I am glad i got it because we can use it on tests and and while we are doing assignments.

This book is just AMAZING- I bought it with "Blessings of Guadalupe"by the same author, and i am really thrilled and impressed by the beauty of this talent; I am sure that Eryk Hanut's name will shine in the history of writing; Buy this book and you will acquire the same belief; His metaphors, sense of prose and lyricism are just matchless- Can't wait for the next book of Eryk Hanut!!

This was a terrific read for anyone interested in La Virgen. I wish all the books about her delivered like this one.

What a thoroughly delightful book. It was an informative and fun weave of history and personal journey. And funny! There were parts which are still causing me to laugh. This book is a treasure.

This book is dazzling- it begins as journalism and ends up as literature; A wonderful pilgrimage- and a wonderful read!!I can't wait for his other books!

This book is just superb! And I mean- SUPERB!!!!!!!!!Poetic,funny, acerbic- and so full of wisdom. I like his style- so irreverent and so deep at the same time. I will reread it often and will give it around.
I strongly recommend it- you got the point, right?
I met Eryk Hanut once- many years ago. I attended an opening for his artwork in Virginia Beach. I was with a friend (who was already sick and has died since)who admired and praised one of Mr. Hanut's Art pieces . She told him so and joked that she couldn't afford it; He left us and came back with the framed photograph that he had just took off the wall- and gave it to my friend. That's the kind of man he is.
Long live authors of his talent and originality!

I know it's a tacky thing to do but I bought this as a gift for a slasher-flick loving friend and read it before I gave it to him. Yeah, a confession after all these years that the gift wasn't strictly 'un-used'. Anyway, I won't go into the plot of Scream, anyone reading this probably already knows it better than I do, having only seen it twice, but I will note that devoid of its visuals (beyond a few movie freeze-frames included in the book) Williamson's writing in this script comes off as better than I remember it being in Scream. Its campiness is elevated to funnier than on screen, its pop culture/film references seem more apt, and the twist the run-time builds up to is reinforced as decently unexpected. (The screenplay also spares the reader a lot of the visual violence that distracts in the case of reading for the sake of broadening insight into the spoken words of a film.) I've read scripts to a few other movies, the best being The Usual Suspects, and every time I've thought how it's a shame more people don't read the scripts to their favorite films, and how un-selfserving that more directors don't publish their screenplays.

Scream isn't a favorite of mine, and it's not high art but if you like the movie, pick this up sometime. The guy I bought it for still has it and seemed to like it.

Reading SCREAM seven years after the initial impact of the film--and in movie terms seven years is definitely a whole generation later--I wonder if it would be a success if Williamson wrote the same material today. Some of it is very clever, and the references to pop culture still work, but more might have been made of the human and emotional back stories of the main characters. Neve Campbell's character, for example, doesn't have the emotional resonance years later that (to take up a similar example in a different film genre) Molly Ringwald displayed in her movies for John Hughes.

I look forward to CURSED, the new collaboration between Kevin Williamson and Wes Crave, though the rumors of the re-shoots and re-takes, actors being fired, etc., and dissatisfied test audiences, make one wonder if it won't be more like KILLING MRS TINGLE than SCREAM. Still, there's always hope.

This book was wicked! I'm reading it for the 7th time I love it! But not as much as the film that was great "well done wes craven" Scream is the best ever i'm a extremly big fan. I know exactly every single word off by heart,I love it. I've got all three soundtracks and all three books and the films, of course! I've got the costume and everything. My favourite character is Billy Loomis he's gorgeous I would love to meet him or any one of the characters on day definatley! ...

I Like this book! Its like the movie! Its Scary!!!!!!!!! Cool! And If You are a big scream fan read it! It has pictures from scream 1 and 2 in it!

This book was wicked! I'm reading it for the 7th time I love it! But not as much as the film that was great "well done wes craven" Scream is the best ever i'm a extremly big fan. I know exactly every single word off by heart,I love it. I've got all three soundtracks and all three books and the films, of course! I've got the costume and everything. My favourite character is Billy Loomis he's gorgeous ...People say my personality is like stu's because I make a joke out of everything I say and I love to play practical jokes on everyone!

This book is the equivalent to a college course on fibers and their characteristics. NOW I know why some of my projects were not what I had hoped they would be; I substituted yarns that were the same gauge, but that wasn't enough. The patterns in this book are examples of each type of yarn (not just the fiber, but the number of plies, etc.) and are very user-friendly. I've already completed a small project, and this time my yarn substitution worked extremely well. I've knitted for many years, but feel that I've graduated to a new level because of this book.

She likes this book enough to buy it, which is unusual, so her opinion speaks for itself. Especially since she crochets, not knits.

This is a great book...I find a lot of useful information and lots if interesting patterns. I'm just about to start the Calla Lily bag. This book a good addition to anyone's library.

....cover to cover. And eagerly, at that. On the first page the author reads my mind and answers my most pressing question. "Why the ^%*@ do my garments never turn out the way I expect"?!?
It's all about the yarn.
This book will take it's place as my number one knitting resource.

As President of Signature Needle Arts yarn makes our needle business possible. This book is fantastic--whether you have just started to knit or are the most experienced. All the information about fiber and yarn manufacturing you have ever heard (and a lot you probably don't know) is in one place. It explains so much about what a knitter experiences from one yarn type to another. Understanding of the basic raw material of all knitting projects will prove invaluable and save time, expense and the heart-break of choosing the wrong yarn. Knitter's Review is a great website, but this book should be on every knitter's shelf as a reference.